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January 02, 2017

My wife, Glenda, and I have enjoyed an adventurous life and it all started back in 1973. On August 5, 1973, this article written by Jerry Bledsoe was published in the Mount Airy Times where our good friend, RJ Berrier, was editor. It is interesting to look back on the article after over 43 years have passed. Many of the actual details of our adventures can be filled in by our books, especially A Taste for the Wild - Canada's Maritimes. There you can find out the story of why we did not end up living in Newfoundland. Some pictures of our time in Nova Scotia are available in this album and additional pictures of our over ten years on the farm in New Brunswick are in this album. More memories from our time in Canada can be found at this website, The Canada I Miss. Here is Mr. Bledsoe's article with some of the errors from the original article corrected.

They'll Start Their New Life By Pioneering In A New Land

Glenda Haymore smiled.

"I've really led a very sheltered life," she said.

Glenda Haymore is 24, bright and attractive. She studied child development at UNC-G, and since she graduated two years ago, she has been working in the university's demonstration nursery and living in a modern new apartment at Guilford College. If you'd told her a couple of months ago that she would suddenly give this up to tend cows in 40-below Canadian winters, she might well have laughed at you.

But, of course, she hadn't reckoned with David Sobotta then.

Like Glenda, David Sobotta is 24 and very bright. They are both from Mount Airy, although they had not met each other until June 9. But when they did meet...

"Well, it was just one of those magical things," a friend of Glenda has said.

That, however, is getting a bit ahead of the story.

David Sobotta went away to study history at Harvard. A lot of people, especially his parents, assumed that he would go on to law school and become a Harvard lawyer. "Everyone had sort of intended for me to be a lawyer," he said. "I never did think about it."

He had been thinking about something far removed from that, in fact. Instead of wrestling with law books and lawyers, David Sobotta was thinking of a more basic challenge. Man again nature. That sort of thing.

Finally Decided on Nova Scotia

In his last two years of college, he had started looking for some land. He wanted to make sure that it was well away from the centers of civilization, and he began his search in the Northwest, then went on up into Alaska. But the place he finally decided on was Nova Scotia. It was a beautiful place, and he had found 340 acres with a 200-year-old shingled house on the Bay of Fundy that he could get cheap. He bought it as soon he graduated from college and stunned his family by telling that he was going to be a Canadian farmer instead of a Harvard lawyer.

Three friends from college went with him to work the place at first. Two did not last long. The third married the village school teacher, settled down across the road from his farm and still helps him with it.

The plan was to raise cattle (he has 150 acres of pasture), but after he bought the farm equipment that he had to have, he only had enough money for seven cattle. There are now several more and he has made enough money to pay some taxes. "Fortunately it doesn't take a lot of money to live in Nova Scotia," he says.

He has learned a lot in the last two years. With help from his friends he ripped out the insides of the old house and started to restore it. He has put up hay for his cattle, grown vegetables and put them up for his larder, raised pigs, butchered them and cured the meat, butchered a steer and even netted herring to salt away for winter. Until he went to Nova Scotia, he'd never had any experience with anything like that.

"We pretty much learned as we went along from the neighbors," he says. "They're friendly people."

There aren't a lot of neighbors of course. David figures maybe 12 or 15 within three miles of his place. But then his farm in St. Croix Cove, is only about 10 miles from Bridgetown which has about 1,500 people.

"We aren't isolated from the world," David was saying.

"Just about," said Glenda, barely audible.

"I was just teasing," she said quickly.

"After all," he said the nearest grocery store is only 10 miles away."

If you are thinking that Glenda may have a vested interest in this place, you are right. In early June, David went to Massachusetts for a friend's wedding and decided to come home to visit for a week. His mother told him that she knew this nice girl, Glenda Haymore, she wanted him to meet, and he said, well sure.

They had lobsters for dinner, and they got to talking about David's place, and later he showed her slides, and they both knew right away. It took them only four days to make the decision. They were going to get married.

Just-To-Make-Sure Trip

In early July, Glenda went to Nova Scotia to look over the place, a sort of just-to-make-sure trip. After all, as she said, she'd led a sheltered life. Nothing in her experience had prepared her to do battle with the elements. But the place was beautiful and captivating and she was convinced.

Their wedding was at 2 p.m. Saturday at Holly Springs Baptist Church in Mount Airy. They planned to leave immediately after the ceremony for Nova Scotia.

The Friday night before the wedding they sat in Glenda's old apartment awaiting the arrival at the airport of David's friend from across the road in Nova Scotia, and talking about their plans for the future. Those plans may include moving on from their place in Nova Scotia, although they have no current plans for selling it. David has worked too hard on it, especially on the house, to get rid of it quickly, and besides, the value of the land has already doubled since he bought it and maybe even tripled.

But David has it in his mind that he would like to pioneer a little and anyway, it's getting a little crowded for him in Nova Scotia. He'd like to go up to Newfoundland and homestead in virgin territory, build a house and clear the land and make it produce. Why"

"Oh, just sort of a challenge." He paused. "Even fewer people." And he looked at Glenda and smiled. "We haven't really made that decision yet."

"All I had to promise," she said, "was that I'd go and look at Newfoundland at least twice. Give it a chance."

March 06, 2015

I still remember the first time that I really wanted to be good at something. I am not even sure what organization was sponsoring our efforts but we were selling home first aid kits. It was back in the fifties. We did cold calling door to door. I might have been six years old and I got my first taste of being really successful at something.

It turns out that the feeling of doing some very well and getting some recognition for it is very addictive. I have been chasing that feeling all my life.

The interesting thing is that the contest long ago became one of me trying to best myself. Maybe circumstances drove me in that direction or perhaps that is just the way that I am wired through the influence of my mother and father.

That great feeling of success now comes when I accomplish something that I thought perhaps that I could not do. Over the years I have stretched myself in different directions and tried things that I never would have guessed possible. I have even enjoyed a labor of love or two to keep me going.

Sometimes when I contemplate a task that I have not done in a long time, I hesitate for a moment as I worry that maybe I have forgotten how to do it. Then somehow my hands seem to take control and the skill that I mastered long ago comes back.

Above all the lesson is never stop learning. Always assume that there is more to learn, a better way to do it or explain it, and that what you have built, created, or written can always be made better.

I wrote long ago that fire in the belly as a metaphor is not a perfect fit for me. A better image is a smoldering ember that never dies and can be fanned to a hot flame if need be.

When Apple decided they no longer needed my services after nearly twenty years of remarkable success, I was heart broken. A good friend convinced me that my best days were yet to be. It was tough to believe at the time, but now eleven years later, his prediction seems on target.

There never was an option to sit in a rocking chair and reflect on what was. It has always been about dreaming of what might be and trying to achieve it.

February 28, 2014

Sometimes it seems that anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can do anything including the most difficult tasks that would never have been attempted twenty years ago.

We have commercials that say that if we pick up the latest Apple iPad gadget, we will be writing the next page in human history. Any task is possible with a computer and Google.

Want to takes the most unbelievable pictures in the world? Canon, Nikon, and Sony make it dead simple. Just hand over $1,000 or so and the world will be your digital canvas.

I even saw a commercial that promised that anyone can build a website. That is certainly true. Just about anyone can also build a house. However what you get from a skilled builder will look a little different than what you get from a chain saw carpenter or with a website in a kit.

We live in a really strange world. On the one hand everyone seems to be trending towards being experts in everything. On the other hand for those things which cannot be achieved by the iPad or a Google search there is an expectation that those who have taken the time to learn how to do those things or who might be really good at what they do in their jobs should share their knowledge and skills for free.

This is especially the case if you are a writer. I was amazed during the early winter when our local outlet for the Raleigh News & Observer would sell out of the Sunday edition. I finally asked the clerk what was happening, and it turns out people were coming in and buying five or six copies of the paper just for the coupons. That means the coupons were worth more than the content.

As a writer that is hard to take, but understandable. With the death of the newspaper, writers are a dime a dozen these days. On top of that many of us including the newspapers have given some of our content away for free for years in the hopes that some sort of Google model will work for us. Of course Google is bigger and better at it than the rest of us so we struggle on and sell a few articles or books while continuing to churn out free content. Writers only find success by drilling down and knowing a subject better than other writers like I recently did in my articles, It’s Time To Give Up On Swiping Credit Cards, and We Worry About Technology Even In Paradise. It is a fiercely competitive world.

It works the same way on photos. Rarely a month passes by when someone does not ask if they can use one of my images for free. If it is for a non-profit or a person who wants one for their desktop background, I always oblige. However, if it is someone who is going to put my image in their magazine from which they will make money, I expect a little money. I sold prints for years until it became hard to justify an expensive printer and inks much less the time when you are only going to get $20 for most prints. I sold some huge prints for only $100. However, the printer they came from took eight ink cartridges. Each cartridge cost $80. Usually as soon as you ask a publication for a few dollars, they disappear because the world is awash in free content.

But in a world filled with expert photographers, I am not surprised that the book has only sold in limited numbers. I did it more for my own satisfaction that for the money. I knew upfront that if you have a Nikon around your neck why would you want one of my photos? Surely your better, more expensive camera takes better pictures than my $400 one.

I recently read a tongue and cheek article about a photographer running an ad looking for people who do their jobs for free. He was obviously tired of being called by people who wanted to use his photos for free for all the great exposure they can provide him.

I share many photos on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Pinterest and Google+. However, in a world overwhelmed with free content, some of which is mine, why pay for my other photos at 99 cents a piece even if they are great when you can see lots of almost as good or maybe even better photos for free. I do take very good photos and many of them are from places that only a limited number of people will go but I make no pretension about making my living from photos. I am amazed that there are still photographers out there who can make a living from their craft.

One of his reasons is "People don’t value things that are free." I have seen that myself. When I was working in real estate, I was amazed at how unappreciative some people were with the time we spent trying to help them find new homes. Most real estate agents work for commission only so if they spend six days showing you homes and you do not buy anything, they end up losing money since they are paying to be real estate agents and covering all of their own expenses. Because real estate agents do not charge for their time, it is not valued.

I have a great working relationship with a couple of clients in my consulting business. They tell me what they want done and it is sometimes with photos. I give them some prices and options. They decide what they want me to do. I deliver what they picked and they write me a check. Everyone ends up happy. I get paid for my work and they get the photos that they want and you can be sure that I have never given them one where the picture isn't level like I see so often in real estate listings.

Working with a good client is much easier than when you are writing an article. Sometimes you spend hours on an article, submit it, get a request for revisions, do the revisions and they still end up deciding not to publish the article. That is how some of my free content gets done. Often when you have worked on a story for so long, you do not want to fight the battle again with another set of editors so it is easier to start on something new.

It is the reality in the world where we live. Content may be king but it has a shaky valuation. In a world where everyone has an amazing array of information available to them, why is my knowledge worth anything to anyone?

I have spent much of my life as a sales person and my earnings have been directly tied to my ability to assess customers' needs and suggest solutions that make sense for them. I have been very successful at sales and on February 28, my friend, Stephen, who is also a very good sales person sent me a WSJ blog article about how big data and analyzing it will "remove the black art from sales." All I have to say is good luck with that. The world still needs some Stephens.

I guess CISCO has a program that predicts when companies will buy their next router. I am happy they can do that but there will always be sales situations that are best managed by a good human sales person. It is a little like me saying that I have a computer program, plenty of sensors and data which will actually predict who is going to catch the first keeper drum out of the surf at the Point this season. I am thinking Dr. Bogus who does measure the water temperature but also spends a lot of time actually fishing will do a lot better job predicting at least when the fish will start biting than any computer. I think humans still have the upper hand in some situations. I am predicting that we will continue to hold an advantage because we can be present, use all the tools that God gave us and tap into our years of experience.

There is still room for expertise in our strangely tilted world, it just requires more work and pays less. Maybe we will get to a point where we value good content as much as we value a ticket to a football game or grocery coupons. It is a little sad that we gotten to a point in the world where our senses are so overwhelmed that we have a hard time valuing things that will last like a good book or a nice picture. I am a little bit old school, I still have a couple of boxes of favorite magazines and even some newspaper clippings that I have hauled around with me. I miss the great newspaper writers, the sometimes stunning covers of Life Magazine and National Geographic. I also enjoy writing enough that I try to rescue and update some of my old free articles that provide useful information.

I still value my own talents and enjoy sharing my pictures and articles with people who seem to appreciate what I write even if it is free. I can tell you more about what is going on in the picture of our dock at the top of the post than any computer and most of folks reading this article. There is value in being present and actually on top of a situation. However, most times it will not buy you a cup of coffee.

Just for the record, I have never charged a friend to help them fix their computer. The only time I have ever turned down a friend with a computer problem is when I really did not have the time or thought I was the wrong person for their problem. Also most of my close friends have prints of mine hanging on their walls. They came from my big printer and they were all free. Our former church in Roanoke has more than a few of those prints and I feel blessed they were able to use them in such a wonderful setting.

Life is certainly not about getting money for everything you do. It would be a very miserable life if we could not give freely of our talents. I have friends who are very generous in helping me and I try to be thankful for their help and help them in return. However we have to be careful in today's world. With all the free stuff we do provide, there is a line that we need to draw in the sand or eventually all of us but the politicians will be working for nothing.

July 11, 2013

Writing is one of those things that operates on sparks of imagination. Something starts to nag you and if it is truly important, eventually what is in the back of your mind ends up being a blog post or a book.

In the next few days, my wife, Glenda and I will be publishing our fifth book. The working title is "A Journey To My Country." This is a paragraph that sets the stage for the book.

It's often late at night on a dark country road when people and places, both remembered and imagined, become the sparks that light the memory defining our lives.

As my wife and I glide through the black night on Union Cross Church Road, we cross a small creek, and it hits me. I see the long-gone millpond, the house with five fireplaces, and the mill itself. I see the shadows of three young girls, my mother and her two sisters, picking beans in their garden. Next, I remember the place as it was when I was young, an old, crumbling concrete dam with trees growing in the former millpond.

The memory fades as fast as it comes, and the dark road continues on into the night.

The story has been there for a long time and the first chapter of this book has been written for a while, but the rest of the pieces did not fall in place until recently. There seemed to be no urgency until North Carolina's state government decided to roll back years of moderate governance with the hope of turning our state into the Texas of the east coast.

However, my book is not about politics. It is about the North Carolina that I remember from my youth when I was growing up as the only child of a single mother in the Piedmont area west of Winston-Salem. It is also about our journey away from North Carolina, our return, and how our state has changed in that period of nearly forty years. The crowd around the swimming pool looks a lot different than it did in the fifties.

Perhaps our short book is just me trying to figure out how I got to be the person that I am. I grew up in rural North Carolina went away to military school, and then got my undergraduate degree at Harvard. After Harvard, I moved to Canada to farm.

My wife and I built a large cattle operation and lived for over ten years in the hardwood hills of New Brunswick. We had over two hundred head of cattle and grew almost all of our own food. Then in a quick twist of fate, in a couple of years I was working for Apple where I had a career of nearly twenty years including directly reporting to Tim Cook for a short time.

I have written a lot about my time at Apple including a book, the Pomme Company. I am one of the few people who worked at Apple and has written a about the company without ending with any challenges from the company. However, when I published the book a few people still at the company were afraid to be in a picture I used in the book even though it was taken ten years earlier.

This new book has very little about Apple in it and I think that is a function of how little Apple contributed to who I am and the mental distance that now separates me from the company. I have continued to use the company's products, but I remain convinced that Apple is really all about money.

I think my character was forged well before I got to Apple. Perhaps certain things that had already burrowed deep into my subconscious before I got to the reality distortion zone of Cupertino kept me from staying even longer at the company. That is not a subject of the book either, but you might be able to draw some conclusions.

I doubt that I would have survived and thrived as long as I did at Apple without the background that I brought to the company as a son of North Carolina with dirt on my hands.

Both North Carolina and I have changed a lot. I did not really appreciate my home state until I stopped running from it and that was many years after I left it. Why I was running might still be another story.

My wife and I took title to my mother's homeplace in Mount Airy, North Carolina in 2002. Mother had come to live with us in Roanoke two hours to the north and could no longer take care of the large house and gardens that are now Sobotta Manor Bed & Breakfast. Going back to Mount Airy and also visiting our youngest daughter who had relocated to North Carolina at almost the same time helped us understand how much we missed being back in our home state.

We lived in Virginia for twenty years, but it was no North Carolina. Living in Virginia did let us enjoy many summer, fall, and spring vacations to North Carolina's beaches. It awakened a love for the Southern Outer Banks that clearly never died.

Now we are full-time residents of North Carolina and live on the Crystal Coast portion of the Southern Outer Banks. North Carolina is a wonderful diverse state. The picture in the post is the large coastal river that I often enjoy from my skiff or kayak. The waters of the river behind our house and the uncrowded beaches of Emerald are a big part of why we live here. We live in an area where the week of the Fourth of July can be a true delight.

In spite of the headlines, I doubt our state will turn into the Texas east. I have high hopes that the good people of North Carolina will stand up for the moderate policies that have made this such a great state where all sort of people feel comfortable.

There will be more about our new book soon. It is a quick read and I hope it encourages others to look back and find those things which have made them who they are. A little "How did I get here and is this person the one I want to be," is good for the soul.

I think "A Journey To My Country." will be well worth its modest cost on the Kindle platform. I have yet to get the final numbers for the paperback version, but I am commited to a print version. I have some older friends who have complained that I have no book in paper. Getting this book in true print will be another learning experience.